iPad Pro and Apple Pencil – Made for Each Other

I’ve been using the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil for a couple of weeks now and I absolutely love using them. It hasn’t taken me long to get used to the size of the iPad Pro. Yesterday I picked up my iPad Air 2 and it seemed tiny in my hands. The control you get over the iPad Pro by using the Apple Pencil is amazing. It really comes into its own when you’re using the Apple Pencil for drawing, painting or design work, but you can use it in other applications too. Most of the time, you’ll probably want to just use your fingers for general use of the best pro tablet out there. Keep the marvellous new Apple stylus for the detail and precision work. The best application for using this combination of iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil is, in my opinion Procreate.

The Apple Pencil and Procreate

When you’re using the pencil you will soon see that the best feature of it, is the pressure sensitivity. When you are using Procreate with the pencil drawing tool in the application you’ll get a darker line when you press harder. When you pick up and start using the pen tools or the brush tools generally you’ll get a wider line when you press harder. Within the application you still get the controls to be able to specify the opacity and width of the brush generally. However, it is rather nice to be able to make changes to a line you’re drawing on the fly. Also, when you’re using the pencil with it almost down at a horizontal angle, you’ll get a shading effect in your drawing. It is incredibly similar to the way you would use a analogue pencil on actual paper in your sketchbook.

No need for buttons on the Apple Pencil

The older Bluetooth styluses you can buy for the Apple iPad generally have a pair of buttons you can use to perform certain tasks. With the Wacom Creative Stylus it’s possible to configure the buttons within the supporting applications to do a range of tasks. Within Procreate you can set the buttons to open up the brush choosing window, or you could set it to do an undo or a redo. While I have been using the Apple pencil I haven’t felt the need for buttons at all. The Apple Pencil stylus is such a joy to use that it just gets out of the way of your creativity.

It’s a lovely to hold in your hand

The Apple Pencil feels good when you’re holding it. This is important for the sort of people who are using this drawing instrument. Artists are tactile people and as well as liking things to look good, it also got to feel good. You will often find that an artist will have a favourite drawing tool. This stylus from Apple seems to me to be a perfect length and weight and has good balance while you’re using it.